Legal Grind: Low-priced Legal Advice in a Café Setting

I get a lot of phone calls from clients seeking legal assistance on smaller matters, things that might fall into the small claims court or paralegal category. Some of these matters are also outside of my area, things like wills, health care directives, or real estate deeds. I can’t really refer these clients to other attorneys because the matters are so small the attorneys probably wouldn’t take them. These clients fall between the cracks of the legal system.

Well, not anymore. I recently came across an interesting café called Legal Grind®. The café offers low-priced legal counsel in a relaxed café setting. Their mottos, “coffee & counsel” and “justice served daily”™. On a chalkboard in their Santa Monica café, I saw the following written on a chalkboard:

• power of attorney – $75
• will – $150-$200
• living trust – $800+
• health care directive – $100
• real estate deed – $75
• small claims action – $150
• name change – $200
• demand letter – $75-$250
• incorporation of a c-corp or s-corp – $500

These rates are considerably cheaper than what most attorneys charge. The café also has guest attorneys who come to the café on assigned days of the week and offer their expertise. Legal Grind charges a nominal fee of $30 for the first 20 minutes of consultation (anything beyond that requires a separate appointment with the attorney at the attorney’s office). To give you an idea of the kind of attorneys who show up, one of the attorneys slated to show up on Fridays at Legal Grind’s Santa Monica location is Jeff Rager . Mr. Rager is an experienced and successful veteran trial lawyer, and a nice guy to boot.

Legal Grind has cafes in three locations: Santa Monica, Woodland Hills and Inglewood. For more information, go to their website. Come on down, and if you see me sipping an iced coffee, say hello. Look for the guy in the glasses blogging away on his computer.